ALL NOVEL 87. Opening the Box.
Better than he had imagined?
Wasn't instant recovery of physical strength good enough?
Hughes looked astonished, about to close his eyes and try to comprehend it further.
Allen took out five more bottles, signaling him to drink them now.
Clink, clink, clink.
The crystal bottles clinked against each other softly. Trusting Allen, Hughes took the bottles and gulped down the "potions."
In an instant, A warm current surged from his stomach, flowing to every corner of his body. His muscles tingled slightly, seemingly growing. His senses sharpened, and even his breathing became much smoother. Without the effect of instant stamina recovery, Hughes felt the potion's effects more clearly.
"I… I think I've gotten stronger?"
Hughes looked down, clenched his fist, the veins on the back of his hand visible, and felt a much stronger sense of power from his palm.
Allen smiled at this scene and gave him another evaluation.
[Name: Hughes]
[Attributes: Strength 7 (+0.5), Agility 7.6, Constitution 9.4 (+1), Perception 8.4, Mystery 4.3]
One vial of essence liquid only increased attributes by 0.3, which might not be noticeable with the stamina recovery effect. But after drinking five vials, The increase in strength and constitution attributes, surpassing a tenth of Hughes' original attributes, became very apparent. He could clearly feel his strength and stamina improve.
"Allen!"
"I really seem to have gotten stronger!"
Hughes recovered, looking at Allen with excitement. His fervent gaze almost set Allen's hair on fire.
Allen smiled and nodded, saying," Don't doubt it, you have become stronger."
"This potion can gently increase your strength and constitution."
Hughes, hearing this, grew even more enthusiastic. He couldn't wait to run to the training stakes, blindfolded, and began dodging and moving. The sense of strength and fluidity in his movements had noticeably improved.
After swinging, spinning, and chopping with a wooden sword for three to four minutes, he thoughtfully returned. His small head was down, seemingly pondering how to get more bottles.
"There are only these five today, come back at this time tomorrow…" Allen said with a smile.
It would be convenient to replenish Hughes's attributes all at once, but the source of so many essence liquids was a problem. Creating an alchemy formula in a few days could be explained by genius. But having so many potions suddenly appear from nowhere was not something "genius" could explain. Besides, the mountain trial had ended, and although the Kaer Morhen defense battle's date was uncertain, If it was to happen soon, just a few days of strength improvement from the drowner essence liquids wouldn't help much. If there were still one or two years, these few days wouldn't matter much. So Allen would only give Hughes six vials of essence liquid today.
After opening the treasure chests in the afternoon and upgrading his alchemy to level four to unlock the essence liquid formula, he would decide on the next day's gift based on the number of potions he could make.
"No need!"
Hughes interrupted Allen, walking over with his head down.
"What?"
No matter how much he calculated, Allen didn't expect Hughes to refuse. He was stunned for a few seconds, looking at the self-doubting Hughes, and seemed to understand.
"Allen, this potion must be very expensive, right?"
"So…you should use it yourself…I…I don't deserve such a good potion."
As expected…Allen thought.
He patted Hughes on the shoulder and explained, "Don't worry, it's my own formula, and the materials are readily available, costing nothing."
"Besides, I've used it long ago, and it doesn't have much effect on me now."
Hughes finally looked up, a bit embarrassed, and asked, "Really?"
"Of course it's true, and the potion isn't just for you; Bond and Fred will have it too."
The young face showed a bright smile again, "Allen, you're so good to me, just like during the mountain trial…I don't know how to repay you?"
"What nonsense? If I'm in trouble, would you not come to help me?"
"How could that be…"
Hughes got anxious, denying it repeatedly.
Allen's heart warmed, smiling as he patted his head and comforted him for a few more minutes until Hughes calmed down. They chatted a bit more, Allen telling Hughes a fabricated story about the essence liquid formula before saying goodbye and leaving.
After a few steps, he suddenly heard Hughes's tender but firm voice behind him, "Allen!"
"If you are in trouble, I will lay down my life for you!"
-----
Southwest corner of the Ancient Sea Fortress.
No matter how sunny the weather was, the apprentice dormitory for witchers still felt eerie.
Gnarly dead trees, cold gray stone walls, and decayed wooden doors…
Every element seemed to repel outsiders. Fortunately, Allen was not an outsider.
After silently praying for the spirits of the deceased apprentices, Allen sat quietly on his old bed, looking at the twenty-four treasure chests in his inventory, and took a deep breath.
[Ding! Drowner King's Treasure Chest 12 opened.]
With the notification, six white lights flashed.
[Experience Orb 1]
[Experience Orb 1]
[Experience Orb 1…]
Six consecutive chests yielded experience orbs, making Allen tense up immediately.
"Is today going to be unlucky?" Allen muttered.
He wasn't this nervous even against the Old Speartip and the Drowner King. Large monsters were really tough to fight. Despite his significantly improved strength, without clever tactics and Vesemir's assistance, he had little chance of directly killing an Old Spearhead monster.
As he worried, the chest-opening light continued to flicker.
White, white, white, blue, white, purple.
Not bad!
At least it wasn't all blue skies and white clouds, and the experience orbs were quite useful…
Allen could only console himself this way. Last time's double jackpot had raised his expectations too high, otherwise, if he had gotten a purple back when he first crossed over, he'd have been so excited he wouldn't sleep all night.
As the purple light faded, darkness fell.
A pale, decaying city ruin gradually appeared in the darkness.
Allen was curious when the city suddenly enlarged before his eyes, rushing towards him. Before he could close his eyes, his perspective shifted. An old man with white hair was arranging bones and flesh on the ground, seemingly in a ritual. A circle of raggedly dressed old and young people surrounded the old man, with no adult males in sight.
Suddenly, The old man finished placing the bloody offerings and knelt in the center. His cracked lips whispered constantly, as if in prayer or plea. Then, The flesh around him dissolved, bones crumbled into powder, and the minced flesh and bone dust seemed to gain consciousness, crawling onto the old man.
In no time, A hideous flesh giant appeared.
It glanced at Allen, eyes wide with rage, as if seeing a blood enemy, charging at him.
In the next moment, It turned to ashes.
[Ding! Obtained: Experience Orb 10, Drowner King's Heart Essence Liquid 1, Ritual: Flesh Giant.]
.....
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88. Darkness is watching you.
89. You're Quite Good!
90. The Fall of the Wolf School.
91. Stuck in a Deadlock.
92. Wolves, Griffins, Cats.